AYASOFYA ONCE A CHURCH, LATER A MOSQUE, AND THEN A MUSEUM

The Most Visited Museums of Turkey: Hagia Sophia Museum

Hagia Sophia

The Hagia Sophia Museum, one of the historical and touristic places in Istanbul, has become the most visited museum in Turkey, and the director of the museum, Hir Allah Genghis, explained the Hagia Sophia Museum, which is one of the leading structures in terms of art and architecture and attracted a great deal of attention from foreign tourists.

Among the many palaces, churches, mosques, obelisks and palaces from the Byzantine and Ottoman periods, the Hagia Sophia Museum is one of the museums that host most visitors in Turkey and Istanbul with its magnificent structure. Hagia Sophia, one of the most prominent buildings that make up the image of Istanbul, is also one of the most interesting historical buildings with a huge dome. Hagia Sophia Museum located in Sultanahmet Square, a few steps from Topkapi Palace.

The Hagia Sophia Museum is one of the museums that attracts the largest number of visitors in Turkey. When we look at the numbers, we see that the Hagia Sophia Museum is on top from time to time. The average number of visitors from 2012 to 2015 is about 3 and a half million. We had a record for visitors in 2015. In 2019, we set a new record by hosting 3.7 million visitors. "

 

Speaking about the features that make the building unique, Genghis said: “The biggest feature of Hagia Sophia is a covered area and its dome is covered. The dome is about 32 meters in diameter and no such dome has been attempted. In fact, a temple was built a little earlier in Rome, but these features, which make Hagia Sophia, which are more flattened and 9 meters in width in the center, were distinctive and impressive, were never repeated in church architecture, although the dome is an example of buildings that were later built.

"Different Myths are believed in Different Beliefs about Hagia Sophia"

Referring to the myths known about Hagia Sophia and mentioning that different religious beliefs are believed in different myths, Cengiz mentioned about the myth of Khidr, which is about the main dome: "Hagia Sophia is a temple of 1500 years old. It has Christian myths when it was church and Islamic myths when it was a mosque especially. Myths usually come from little known, but every myth has a share of reality in it.

"The Common Temple of All Religions and Sects: Hagia Sophia"

Talking about the tombs in Hagia Sophia, Cengiz said, "We have 5 tombs on the southern side. The oldest of these belongs to Sultan Selim II. Now, there are tombs of Sultan Murad III, Sultan Mehmed III along with tombs of shahzades (princes) as well as tombs of Sultan Mustafa and Sultan İbrahim within the baptistery when the Hagia Sophia was first built.

Of course, there are many artifacts that differ from visitor cultures and attract their attention. Hagia Sophia is one of the oldest temples that have survived in all its glory while maintaining its integrity. It has a very important place in its history in architecture and art, from interior decoration, to its marble structure, from the size of a dome, to the left track and the large space it occupies in the history of architecturet. It is a place for Christians to visit because it is a temple for Christians from the time that Christianity was not divided into denominations. For Muslims, Hagia Sophia is the holiest place to visit, especially to enjoy the Hadiths of our Prophet about the conquest of Istanbul. You can see the basis of religion and belief for this. So, you can consider Hagia Sophia the common temple of all denominations. "

 

MASTERPIECE OF THE HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE

Hagia Sophia, with its innovative architecture, rich history, religious significance and extraordinary characteristics that have been fighting for centuries, is the largest eastern Roman church in Istanbul. Constructed three times on the same site, it is the oldest and fastest cathedral in the world. With its picturesque domes hanging in the air, the monolithic marble columns and unparalleled mosaics are one of the wonders of the history of architecture in the world.

IT CONTINUED TO EXIST AS A MOSQUE DURING THE OTTOMAN PERIOD

Hagia Sophia today is the third building constructed in the same place with a different architectural understanding from its predecessors. By order of Emperor Justinian, it was built by Anthemios of Tralles (Aydin) and Isidoros of Miletos (Balat).

 Construction began in 532 and was completed within five years, and was opened to worship in 537 with great celebration. When Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror conquered the city, he turned it into his imperial mosque. She continued her presence with the addition of Ottoman architectural elements and turned into a museum in 1935. Hagia Sophia was famous for its imperial gate, a beautiful gate (a wonderful door) and a marble gate, with 104 columns, some of which were brought from ancient cities. The "Omphalion" section highlights where the marble emperors crowned such columns.

Mosaic, engagement chairs: a vision worth seeing!

Hagia Sophia dazzles people not only with its stunning architectural design, but also with its gold-plated mosaics, glass, clay, colored stone mosaics, and original sixth-century ceiling mosaics with its floral and geometric motifs. .

 Mosaics in the following forms prohibiting icons in the eighth century, especially the mother Mary, who depicts the child Jesus in her arms. The mosaic of angels Gabriel and Archangel Michael and Disis must be seen. The mosaic tughra was built by Sultan Abdul Majid between 1847 and 1849 during the restoration of the Fossati brothers.

Eight large round paintings that were added during the Ottoman period are the work of the famous calligrapher Kadiaskar Mustafa Izzat during the reign of Sultan Abdul Majid. Two cubes of solid marble were brought into the side aisles, which could receive an average of 1,250 liters of liquid, from the ancient city of Bergama during the reign of Sultan Murad III…